August 2 - 8 (SOLD OUT)
August 9-15 (6 spots available)
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This is not a retreat where you sit
in a classroom taking notes.
This is a lab course for your life.
This retreat is about rebuilding the axis between intuition and instinct that was lost inside of you. Not as some vague idea, but as real, lived, human qualities that make us come alive and connect us to the wider web of life force and vitality. The web that most people have been conditioned to disconnect from.
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In a world that teaches us to ignore what we feel and override our instincts, we stay in limited circular cycles that keep us stuck in the same place. The process of working with your intuition and instincts is the most natural innocent process of the human experience.
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Magic is real and the earth is alive will be etched into your soul by the time you leave.Â
It's blooming szn, baby
The Samanea Nature Sanctuary is my big sister. I’m tearing up as I write this. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in the city, overwhelmed or about to walk into something stressful, when I feel Samanea move into my bones and soothe me.
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Most recently, I was on my way to break up with my ex-partner. I stepped out of my apartment and the entire sky in Mexico City shifted. I was second guessing myself when suddenly the street filled with mist. I turned to look at the sun and saw a HUGE rainbow. A very rare climate moment for Mexico City in the dead of winter. That was Samanea in her fullness, reminding me everything was going to be okay.
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I share this because EMS is not a big-brain school. We’re not teaching concepts that live in a notebook. Being at Samanea isn’t a Snow White fantasy. She is the real deal. Once you have a relationship with her, she will show up for you your entire life when you need her most. This is something all of our past retreat participants share with us over and over again. "Samanea is with me, she's always here."
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Your body will be the notebook. Your central channel will be the pen. She teaches humility, slowness, and how to build a real relationship with yourself and the animate beings of this planet who have been with you since you were conceived.
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For seven days, we practice sincere connection with the land. We pray to the animate beings of the earth and the ancestors. We give offerings, build earth altars, and work with the elements to clear stuckness, confusion, and overwhelm during wild times.
The Medicine Wheel: a living map for human transformation
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We will open up a deep study of the Medicine Wheel as a living map for human growth, transformation, and embodiment, moving through different archetypes and directions: the wild nature child of the south, the rebel adolescent of the west, the generative adult of the north, and visionary mystic of the east.Â
The teachings will be guiding maps for the practices and processes that Karen and Lizzie have co-created. Some days will be about moving and expressing, others about stillness and deep reflection.
You will spend time in silence, in song, in dance, with clay all over your body, plants and flowers in your hair, naked in the river, and singing under starlight and rainbows.
The Medicine Wheel teachings will be taught by my teacher, Karen Gordon: curandera, restoration ecologist, and vision quest guide. As a medicine woman and scientist you will learn everything through the lense of science and mystery.
By the time you leave you will feel reborn and ready to go home as a brand new version of yourself that shows up in the world in a grounded, vital, fully alive human being that contributes to your ecosystem and community.
Who is this for?
- Past, current, and future students of Earth Mystery School.
- People who feel overly sensitive or easily overwhelmed by energy and want to learn how to ground themselves in real, practical ways using the forces of the living planet.
- People who are ready to study and experience the medicine wheel as a living practice, a pan-cultural tradition that teaches balance, reciprocity, and relationship with the earth.
- People who feel called to deepen their connection with the land and understand the patterns, directions, and elements that shape all life.
- Parents and future parents who want to raise their children with earth wisdom, free from the magic wound.
- Those navigating their Saturn Return who are moving through big life transitions and seeking spiritual tools to guide them.
- People who have worked with the plant medicines of this earth and seek deeper integration, or those preparing for their journey.
 - If you’ve been stuck in stagnation and confusion for far too long.
This is for those ready to move beyond the theoretical into the embodied. For those ready to stop seeking and start living.
This is a living laboratory for your soul.
Lizzie will be weaving in Earth Mystery School teachings, bringing what you’ve learned online into practice on the land.
About Karen & Samanea Nature Sanctuary
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Karen is a restoration ecologist, educator, and ceremonial guide who has spent 30 years helping people reconnect with the land. She is the steward of Samanea Nature Sanctuary, a 40-acre sanctuary in Costa Rica, where nature, prayer, and ceremony come together to support deep transformation.
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Her work has taken her from the fjords of the North Atlantic to the Peruvian Amazon, but her heart is in creating spaces where nature teaches us directly. Trained in the Peruvian mestizo vegetalista tradition, Karen brings a grounded, heart-centered approach to guiding people through land-based practices, vision quest principles, and deep ecological listening.
Samanea is not just a retreat space, it’s a living, breathing landscape that invites you to slow down, listen, and remember your connection to the earth.
The Lodging Breakdown
If you choose a double-occupancy room, you will be assigned a lovely roommate unless you're coming with a friend. If you are coming with a friend, you can request to room together at booking. These rooms have two separate beds.
If choosing a single-occupancy room and you don’t mind sharing a space or a bed, you’re welcome to come with a friend or partner and share a room at the double occupancy price.  Two people sharing a queen or king bed in these rooms can each pay $3,550 instead of $3,950.
Shared Double Rooms
$3,550
INCLUDES
- Lodging
- Breakfast, lunch, & dinner
- Nature immersion at the Samanea Nature Sanctuary
- One massage
- One morning yoga class
- One cacao ceremony
- Sound bath by one of the world's leading sound bath therapists
- Ceramic clay activity with clay harvested from the land
- Somatic dance facilitation
- Immersion supplies
- Welcome giftsÂ
Private Single Rooms
$3,950
INCLUDES
- Lodging
- Breakfast, lunch, & dinner
- Nature immersion at the Samanea Nature Sanctuary
- One massage
- One morning yoga class
- One cacao ceremony
- Sound bath by one of the world's leading sound bath therapists
- Ceramic clay activity with clay harvested from the land
- Somatic dance facilitation
- Immersion supplies
- Welcome giftsÂ
 FAQs
What airport do I fly into?
San Jose (SJO) Liberia (LIR)Â
How do we get there from the airport?
We will put you in a group chat to coordinate a group shuttle and/or give you the contact info of drivers we use regularly and trust to coordinate a private ride.
What if I am coming to CR early or leaving late, can those same drivers pick me up?
Yes, our drivers can shuttle you around CR. They can even take you to destination points along the way!
How far is the ride from airport to Samanea?
It's about a 2-3 hour drive depending on the airport and traffic. Liberia is a little closer to Samanea than SJO by like 30-45 minutes.
What do I bring?
Your welcome email will be full of info on what to bring to the retreat, but you don't have to bring much. You will be in a tropical environment, it will rain. Check the weather and pack accordingly. If you choose to bring an instrument, you are welcome to!
